While we often differed with Rumford’s Eugene Boivin in this column, no one could ever question the man’s energy, enthusiasm or dedication to his community. Boivin died of cancer Saturday. He was 70.
“He was an honest, straightforward guy,” Rumford firefighter Richard Coulombe told the Sun Journal for a story Monday on Boivin’s passing, and any news reporter who covered him would heartily agree.
Boivin was quotable and outspoken, two qualities much appreciated by newspaper reporters. But he could be just as plain spoken when he felt crossed by those who covered him.
Boivin and his brother, Arthur, will be long remembered for a bit of civic-minded civil disobedience. Impatient with delays in removing two large maple trees from outside town hall in 2007, the brothers simply showed up early one morning with a chainsaw and cut them down.
Fait accompli, the small band of amateur lumberjacks called the Rumford Public Works Department to clean up the debris. The brothers were roundly criticized by everyone from city officials to this newspaper, which only left them grudgingly remorseful.
But Boivin wasn’t all bluster. In recent years, Boivin helped six families work together through Community Concepts to build their own home, and he received a Commissioner’s Award from the Maine Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
Boivin, a Rumford firefighter for 30 years who retired as chief in 1989, had an artistic side as well. He designed stained-glass artwork, built the steel silhouettes of Native Americans which can be found at the edge of Rumford Falls near the recently dedicated J. Eugene Boivin Park, and designed the waterwheel attached to the Rumford Information Center.
He cared deeply for Rumford, its present and its history. Last year, the Boivin brothers presented their narrated DVD-made-for-television presentation titled “Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” the detailed story of the creation of the town’s fire department and water district, and a summary of the various fires that consumed portions of Rumford over the years so locals would have a record of that history.
He was actively involved in town politics, including service on the Board of Selectmen and, more recently, the town’s Charter Commission. He served on the board of the River Valley Growth Council, and tirelessly questioned increased municipal and county spending. He was a frequent visitor to the hearing rooms of the State House, and was true to Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. This man, named one of Rumford’s Citizens of the Year, loved this town and wanted others to see her beauty, too.
Several people told the Sun Journal that Gene Boivin was “one of a kind” and his own man. He was a rare combination of forceful personality and dedicated civic servant who will be missed by the community he loved.
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